This invention relates generally to human/computer interfaces, and more particularly to human/computer interfaces with force feedback that can operate over a network.
Computer networks have become essential to allow users and computers to communicate with each other. Users transmit and receive data over networks in offices, at home, or in portable devices, and do so for a variety of tasks and applications, including communication, distribution, and entertainment. Many different types of networks are used. Local Area Networks (LANs) are typically provided in a limited area and include a relatively small number of computer nodes. The most large scale example of a network is the Internet, which has become extremely popular. The Internet is a Wide Area Network (WAN) that is structured and distributed such that no one authority or entity manages the network. Different communication protocols can be used over networks to allow computers to communicate with each other; for example, protocols such as “Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol” (TCP/IP) and the “World Wide Web” (WWW) are used over the Internet. TCP/IP sends “packets” of data between a host machine, e.g. a server computer on the Internet, and a client machine, e.g. a user's personal computer connected to the Internet, or between two client machines. The WWW is an Internet interface protocol which is supported by the same TCP/IP transmission protocol. Intranets are private networks based upon Internet standards, and have become quite common for managing information and communications within an organization. Intranets, since they adhere to Internet standards, can often use the same interface software as are used on the Internet, such as a web browser.
A variety of information is currently transferred over computer networks. For example, visual data, text data, and sound data can be transmitted over the Internet and the WWW. Image data can be sent from one client machine to another (or from a server machine to a client machine) in a variety of formats. Or, for example, data packets coded in TCP/IP format can be sent from one client machine to another over the Internet to transmit sound data. This last-mentioned technique forms the basis for Internet telephony.
While the transmission of visual images (both static and dynamic, i.e. video), text, and sound over networks, such as the Internet, is well-known, the transmission of other types of sensory data has not been well explored. In particular, the transmission of data over networks pertaining to the sense of touch and/or force has not been established. “Force feedback” allows a user to experience or “feel” tactile sensations as provided through computational information. Using computer-controlled actuators and sensors on a force feedback device, a variety of realistic sensations can be modeled and experienced by the user. This useful and highly immersive sensory modality for interacting with the Internet and other users over the Internet has hereto been unavailable.